Donald Trump tapped Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, as environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers denounced the selection of a state official who has sued the agency he is now slated to lead.

“For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn. As my EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, the highly respected Attorney General from the state of Oklahoma, will reverse this trend and restore the EPA’s essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe,” the president-elect said in a statement Thursday morning.

“The American people are tired of seeing billions of dollars drained from our economy due to unnecessary EPA regulations, and I intend to run this agency in a way that fosters both responsible protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses.” Pruitt vowed in a statement.

Even before the announcement was official critics pounced.

"Trump's nominee to lead EPA, Scott Pruitt, is a climate denier who's worked closely with the fossil fuel industry," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, the former Democratic presidential candidate Wednesday. "That's sad and dangerous."

As Trump conducted a second interview with Pruitt on Wednesday, aides praised the Oklahoma attorney general, who has filed several lawsuits against various Obama administration regulations.

"Mr. Pruitt led Oklahoma's legal challenges to the EPA, Obamacare, executive actions on illegal immigration, Dodd-Frank and President Obama's repeated attempts to bypass Congress," said Trump spokesman Jason Miller. "Attorney General Pruitt has a strong conservative record as a state prosecutor and has demonstrated a familiarity with laws and regulations impacting a large energy resource state."

Pruitt, a former state legislator as well as general managing partner of Oklahoma City's minor league baseball team, has said that the Obama administration has overstepped its authority.

"Congress has spoken very specifically, very prescriptively, particularly in the environmental space with respect to state implementation plans and under the Clean Air Act," Pruitt said. "You see this EPA, and you see regulatory bodies at the federal level displacing that, or duplicating state power."

The Senate would have to confirm Pruitt's nomination, and environmental groups began lining up to oppose him.

“Having Scott Pruitt in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. "He is a climate science denier who, as Attorney General for the state of Oklahoma, regularly conspired with the fossil fuel industry to attack EPA regulations."

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